58,506,000 (1996).

51.6 per sq km.

Addis Ababa

2,209,000 (1995).

Ethiopia is situated in northeast Africa, bordered by Eritrea, Sudan, Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti. It is the tenth-largest country in Africa and about twice the size of France. The central area is a vast highland region of volcanic rock forming a watered, temperate zone surrounded by hot, arid, inhospitable desert. The Great Rift Valley, which starts in Palestine, runs down the Red Sea and diagonally southwest through Ethiopia, Kenya and Malawi. The escarpments on either side of the country are steepest in the north where the terrain is very rugged. To the south, the landscape is generally flatter and more suited to agriculture.

Federal Republic. Head of State: President Negasso Gidada since 1995. Head of Government: Prime Minister Meles Zenawi since 1995. Ethiopia is the only African country never to have been colonised by Europeans.

Amharic is the official language, although about 80 other native tongues are spoken. English is widely used and some Arabic, Italian and French are spoken.

Ethiopian Orthodox and Coptic Church mainly in the north; Islam, mainly in the east and south.

GMT + 3.

220 volts AC, 50Hz.